No one here needs to get to know you except by what you say here either in reply or in statement, and you seem quite clear to me that you're just the run-of-the-mill Christian that we have seen come and go from this website over the years.

I find it interesting that you think my reason for tending to lean in certain directions with specific beliefs, based on scripture, somehow makes me like all other Christians, or that somehow I wouldn't see that as circular reasoning (the bible says it so it must be true). Since this isn't a debate thread, but rather an INTRODUCTION thread, I'll simply leave it at that, just an interesting observation, even if that is how you truly view the world or attempt to deal with categorizing data/people to filter your responses.

No one here needs to get to know you except by what you say here either in reply or in statement, and you seem quite clear to me that you're just the run-of-the-mill Christian that we have seen come and go from this website over the years.

I find it interesting that you think my reason for tending to lean in certain directions with specific beliefs, based on scripture, somehow makes me like all other Christians, or that somehow I wouldn't see that as circular reasoning (the bible says it so it must be true). Since this isn't a debate thread, but rather an INTRODUCTION thread, I'll simply leave it at that, just an interesting observation, even if that is how you truly view the world or attempt to deal with categorizing data/people to filter your responses.

I reply to what I read. Such as you stating this a Intro topic, and not a Debate topic, where as this is true I didn't start the debate. I am the 18th reply on your introduction. Which means you participated in a "debate" with others before I even arrived.

This means that you can't make an honest reply to me and why your response is nothing but you being defensive, and tactless.

Try again.

-Nam

Logged

Things I've said here:

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I only have a filter for people who do not consistently beg to be belittled, ridiculed, insulted, and demeaned.

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I may believe people, as a whole, should be treated fairly but I also believe those same people are idiots.

I reply to what I read. Such as you stating this a Intro topic, and not a Debate topic, where as this is true I didn't start the debate. I am the 18th reply on your introduction. Which means you participated in a "debate" with others before I even arrived.

This means that you can't make an honest reply to me and why your response is nothing but you being defensive, and tactless.

Try again.

-Nam

Nam,

What it "means" is that is isn't a debate thread. I'm not defensive at all, I don't take personally anything you've said. And, my replies were to others' questions, which I assume are a good faith effort on their part simply to try and gather more information about my opinions and experiences. There really has not been any debate until you entered the discussion. Everyone else has simply asked questions, which they told me beforehand were an attempt to simply find out more information for potential future interaction. Even though it's quite possible some might be forming similar opinions, they have not engaged in debate, and I'd prefer to keep it that way in this introduction thread.

Oh, I see. Your replies to them were from questions but if we reply to your reply that's going too far. I see.

So, it makes me wonder how well you'd do in a debate? There's a debate section here, I believe. Want to debate? You can pick the topic.

-Nam

Nam, I don't think asking questions, or followup questions is at all out of bounds, just not pursuing debate in this thread. I'm not particularly interested in debating, not that I wouldn't be open to it at some point in the future, I simply don't see the point. In our political system, debate doesn't seem to do anything other than create a war of words and further entrench people in their existing positions, or create animosity and division. What tends to move people and shift opinion in the general population are not vigorous debates. Debates between atheists and theists also rarely affect change in position, although I can see that some Christians who come here do eventually shift their position to atheism. I'm here to explore and ask questions. If debate would be profitable, at some point, then perhaps that would be a possibility. I'm getting a lot of information, however, from simply reading threads and asking questions or responding to forum posts. There are already some "debates" there, just not one-on-one exchanges.

You're not interested in debating? Why are you here?. Oh, so you are like every other Christian that comes here: spread the "truth" (your truth) to us heathens and then move on. How are you different? You're not.

This is a place of debate. That's what these places are, everything else that these places represent are secondary.

So, you see--you're just like every other Christian that comes here, and I highly doubt the percentages of Christians who come here (and stay to debate) deconvert.

Places like this have no sway over made up minds.

-Nam

Logged

Things I've said here:

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I only have a filter for people who do not consistently beg to be belittled, ridiculed, insulted, and demeaned.

Quote

I may believe people, as a whole, should be treated fairly but I also believe those same people are idiots.

B.A. is correct - an introduction thread is not the place to get into a debate. We do not expect current residents of the site to turn Introduction threads into a debate chamber. So questions to clarify are okay, its fine to ask for clarification or expansion, but not to challenge.

Nam is also correct - this forum is a place for debate (or discussion at least). The introduction threads are here for a quick "hello" and to give some background. The Mods would look very seriously on anyone who we thought was using them as a place to simply air their views without having to respond to challenges.

Its a fine line. I'll let you know if I see anyone cross it in future.

heyyy..... i belong to a certain religion by birth but am fed up of its patriachal traditionsand prejudice against women and all in the name of god....

i cant say am an atheist or wanna be but i'd like to belong one such religionwhich has a value system that doesnt demean women. a religion which doesntsegregate humans on the basis of caste or gender.

i stumbled upon this amazing forum.am expecting to have some candid and rational and reformist discussions with the members of this forum...

thank you!!!

The Unitarians tend to be pretty cool about treating race, gender, gayness, and even different beliefs about god, etc with respect. My husband and I were married in a Unitarian church by a Unitarian minister. They were the one group that did not care that my husband was a Christian and I was an atheist.

B a If you want a very simple way to decide how old everything is, just go outside at night when the stars are out, look for a little blur called the Andromeda Galaxy. The light from it has taken over a million years to reach your eye. If everything was younger than that the light would not have reached us yet. Have a look at some photos online from the Hubble telescope. The light from those earliest galaxies has taken thirteen billion years to reach us. If the universe was younger than thirteen billion years, the light would not have reached us yet.

Some theists will say that god just made the universe to look like things take that long for us to see them. So unbelieving atheist scientists will be fooled and sent to hell for eternal damnation. God is awesome that way.

There are fundy websites that say when the real world appears to contradict scripture, figure out a way to see that scripture is right. Because scripture-- created by perfect god-- is always right, while the real world--described by the science of flawed humans-- is constantly changing.

They claim to do "research". But they don't do any original studies. They don't produce any results. They have not developed cures for any disease or invented new products or discovered new sources of energy. There is no bible-based malaria vaccine or god-powered non-polluting vehicle. Nothing they do can be replicated by other researchers or applied in the real world. What they actually do is attempt to poke holes in the work that actual researchers do, using the bible as fact.

Yet, when they want to solve a problem in the real world, they turn to "atheist" science like everyone else.